“`html
Baroness Michelle Mone has stated she has “no wish to return” to the House of Lords as a Conservative peer.
This follows calls from Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch for Mone to be stripped of her peerage after PPE Medpro, a firm linked to Mone, was ordered to repay £122m for breaching a COVID-19 contract.
In a letter addressed to Badenoch, the Scottish entrepreneur indicated she would not seek to rejoin the Conservative ranks, “assuming there still is a Conservative Party before the next election”.
Mone was elevated to the peerage by then-Prime Minister David Cameron in 2015. However, she subsequently took a leave of absence and had the Tory whip withdrawn after revelations surrounding PPE Medpro surfaced.
The Conservative Party stated in December 2023 that Mone was no longer a member, a claim later disputed by Mone herself.
The party affirmed that Mone was “formally written to” on Thursday, and informed that she would not be readmitted as a Conservative should she return to the Lords.
In her letter to Badenoch, Mone alluded to “a bit of amnesia” regarding the loss of her whip, implying that she voluntarily relinquished it when she commenced her leave.
Mone added, “You will be pleased to hear that once I do clear my name, I have no wish to return to the Lords as a Conservative peer.
“That’s assuming there still is a Conservative Party before the next general election.”
Badenoch joined a chorus of politicians, including Chancellor Rachel Reeves, in urging Mone to relinquish her peerage following the High Court’s judgment.
Speaking to BBC News on Thursday, Badenoch stated that the information she had gleaned from the case against PPE Medpro was “enough” to warrant Mone being stripped of her title.
She further stated: “I want to make sure that people can see that the Conservative Party is a party of integrity.
“That’s why we removed Michelle Mone.
“And it’s very, very important that people see that politicians, whether they’re in the Commons or in the Lords, are acting above board.”
A Conservative Party spokesman added: “Under Kemi Badenoch’s leadership, the Conservative Party expects parliamentarians to maintain the highest standards, and on this Baroness Mone has fallen well short.”
It should be noted that peerages can only be revoked through an act of Parliament. The SNP have previously called for the UK government to pursue this course of action.
PPE Medpro, established by a consortium headed by Mone’s husband, Doug Barrowman, secured lucrative contracts to supply 25 million medical gowns to the NHS during the pandemic.
However, the equipment has remained in storage since 2020, as the company failed to adequately demonstrate proper sterilization procedures.
Mone characterized the court ruling as “nothing less than an establishment win for the government in a case that was too big to lose”.
A spokesperson for Mr. Barrowman described the ruling as “a travesty of justice”.
Power cuts have been reported in the Outer Hebrides as the storm moves across the UK, leading to widespread travel disruption.
A selection of photographs submitted to BBC Scotland News from around the country this week.
Deaths in Aberdeenshire, Stirling, Mull, the Borders and Stewarton will be the focus of an inquiry.
A record 32,000 runners will hit the streets this weekend for Scotland’s largest mass participation event.
Murdo Maclennan was ousted weeks after complaining that civil servants rather than islanders had been invited to launch new ferries.
“`